Fifteen of rock's hottest bands have contributed cover versions of classic songs for the second instalment of Kerrang! magazine's free 'High Voltage' CDs.
'Higher Voltage' - which includes exclusive recordings by Lostprophets, Aiden, Fightstar and Madina Lake and rare covers by Funeral For A Friend and Gallows - will be given away free with Kerrang! issue 1164, which goes on sale June 20.
"We had such an amazing response to our 25th birthday 'High Voltage' CD that we figured it'd be a good idea to do it all over again," says K! editor Paul Brannigan. "'Higher Voltage' is quite possibly the best Kerrang! CD ever and we know you're gonna love it."
Welsh sextet Lostprophets are set to surprise readers with a brutal cover of Machine Head's 'Davidian', a track which appeared on the Bay Area metaller's classic 1994 debut 'Burn My Eyes'.
"I hope people will be freaked out by our version when they hear it," laughs frontman Ian Watkins.
"We were metal kids and 'Davidian' was our anthem! I remember getting the album and just being completely blown away and the band we were in at the time were full-on metal . We were called Fleshbind and it was just pure thrash metal. We were totally into Sepultura and Pantera and all of that good stuff. After that I was in a hardcore band called Public Disturbance. But then we started Lostprophets because we wanted to be free to experiment and not be restricted but I still love all that old thrash stuff. You can tell we love it from the enjoyment that went into the recording of it.
"People would expect us to do an '80s pop cover or that sort of thing," he adds. "We thought 'fuck it', we'll just go for it and do an all-out metal song. You can't fuck with 'Davidian'! That's the fucking shit! I want someone at Kerrang! to play it to Robb Flynn and I want to get a quote from him about what he thinks... unless he says really bad things about it and then just say you couldn't find him."
We did find Machine Head's Flynn to discover what he thought of the idea Lostprophets re-recording one of his most memorable songs.
"I was quite shocked when I first heard they were covering it, actually," says Flynn. "I thought, 'Lostprophets? Really?'. But then I read somewhere that they were big Machine Head fans, I think Lostprophets will do a good job too. I just hope they hope they don't butcher it like Funeral For A Friend did with 'Damage, Inc' on Kerrang!'s 'Master Of Puppets' tribute album. If Lostprophets do that to our song, then we'll fucking kill them!
"I'd be stoked if they did a good job, and I've got a hunch they will," he smiles. "I don't know too much about them but something tells me that they know their Machine Head!"
Merthyr Tydfil sextet The Blackout pay tribute to nu-metallers Limp Bizkit on the track 'My Generation'.
"When we started this band, we all loved nu-metal," reveals vocalist Sean Smith. "We all fucking loved Limp Bizkit. The reason I got into music was through hearing that band. Before that, I was a trance DJ! I heard Freddy D swear a few times and then I decided 'I want in on that!'. 'My Generation' is one of our favourite Limp Bizkit songs. Simple as that. We decided to do a song with lots of rapping in it, because I can spit some rhymes."
The band have altered Fred Durst's lyrics to give the nu-metal anthem a distinctly Welsh flavour.
"Take us to the Merthyr Bridge!" laughs Smith. "It's where we come from, so why not give our hometown a bit of props! And instead of rapping 'welcome to the jungle', we changed it to 'welcome to the valleys', because they're just as dangerous. It was a dream come true to record this and hopefully people won't hate us for it!"
Bullet For My Valentine revisit Metallica's back catalogue for the second time. The band covered 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' for our special 'Kerrang! Remastered' CD in April 2006.
"This time, we covered 'Creeping Death'," says frontman Matt Tuck. "We chose it because we used to play it years ago before we got signed. We love this song a lot and played it on our last tour and it went down a treat.
"We only spent about eight hours on it - from setting up to mixing it - so we're so happy how it came out.It's pretty fucking heavy! Maybe we'll get to jam it with Metallica on the upcoming summer tour! Hell yeah!"
TheAudition took time out of their recent tour with The Academy Is... to record a turbo-charged cover of Bon Jovi's 'Livin' On A Prayer' with a handful of Kerrang! competition winners in Livingstone Studios, London.
"We chose 'Livin' On A Prayer' because it's so recognisable and thought it would be a challenge to record," says frontman Danny Stevens. "It was really strenuous to sing. Apparently Jon Bon Jovi even had a hard time singing it a lot of the time. It was great getting some of our fans to sing 'wo-ah!' on the choruses too!"
Kerrang!'s 'Higher Voltage' features the following track-listing:
Lostprophets 'Davidian' (Machine Head)
Aiden 'Drain You' (Nirvana)
Fightstar 'Breaking The Law' (Judas Priest)
Bullet For My Valentine 'Creeping Death' (Metallica)
The Automatic 'Epic' (Faith No More)
Funeral For A Friend 'The Boys Are Back In Town' (Thin Lizzy)
Madina Lake 'Today' (Smashing Pumpkins)
Sign 'Youth Gone Wild' (Skid Row)
TheAudition 'Livin' On A Prayer' (Bon Jovi)
Soulfly 'Beautiful People' (Marilyn Manson)
The Blackout 'My Generation' (Limp Bizkit)
Yourcodenameis:Milo 'Feel Good Hit Of The Summer' (Queens Of The Stone Age)
Darkest Hour 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off' (Dead Kennedys)
Gallows 'Nervous Breakdown' (Black Flag)
Bring Me The Horizon 'Eyeless' (Slipknot)
'Higher Voltage' is only available with Kerrang! issue 1164 on sale next Wednesday (June 20). Reserve your copy now to avoid disappointment.
Posted by van merde | June 15, 2007 8:12 PM | Reply to this
d
My generation is a song by THE WHO not that queer fuck-head limp bizkit!
Posted by ppp | September 1, 2007 2:31 PM | Reply to this
Judgement Day
Some very intresting choices on that CD - particuarly Aidens, Lost Prophets, Soulfly and Bring Me The Horizons, but i'll reserve judgement till I actually hear it.
Posted by Carl | June 15, 2007 10:38 PM | Reply to this
I love Aiden and Drain you is my fav Nirvana song so i hope its good!
Posted by Kiara | June 16, 2007 9:07 PM | Reply to this
I love Aiden and Drain you is my fav Nirvana song so i hope its good!
Posted by Kiara | June 16, 2007 9:07 PM | Reply to this
KERRANG CD
cd luks great!!! bullet 4 my valentine Rokk!! cd cud be better with a bit of mcr!
This track listing certainly looks interesting - I'm really not a fan of Bring Me he Horizon though though so they better do a fucking good job of Slipknot's Eyeless!
Posted by Joel | June 19, 2007 9:34 AM | Reply to this
Meh
Apart from Bullet's Metallica cover, Aiden's Nirvana cover & /possibly/ FFAF's Thin Lizzy cover it looks like a pretty boring CD.
Sorry.
Posted by RAWR! | June 19, 2007 10:05 AM | Reply to this
My fave song
Today by the Pumpkins is my favourite song of all time and I dont think that it should be given to someone like Madina Lake don't get me wrong they're an ok band but a Pumpkins song needs to be given to someone with a bit more talent
Posted by JW | June 19, 2007 10:06 AM | Reply to this
Davidian
Davidian is a terrible song from what I remember of it listening to it only 10 minutes ago. I remember it being a little bit short and not very music orientated in anyway.
We shall have to see. Looking forward to some of the others. To the people saying finally someone covering a Mr. Manson song, American Head Charge covered Irresponsible Hate Anthem, tis rather spiffy.
I might buy a few posters a dictionary also, my spelling and grammar are bad but jesus, cud and rokk? Come on, and who the hell are MCR?
davidian is not a bad song! u stupid wanker, ur obviously allowed ur own opinion but u cannot call a song like davidian bad, and y did u say it was short? its 5 minutes long, not music orientated? do u know wat ur talking about u try learning one instrument from taht song and then we'll see if its bad. WANKER
Posted by nathan barrow | June 25, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply to this
Davidian
davidian is not a bad song! u stupid wanker, ur obviously allowed ur own opinion but u cannot call a song like davidian bad, and y did u say it was short? its 5 minutes long, not music orientated? do u know wat ur talking about u try learning one instrument from taht song and then we'll see if its bad. WANKER
Posted by nathan barrow | June 25, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply to this
Davidian
davidian is not a bad song! u stupid wanker, ur obviously allowed ur own opinion but u cannot call a song like davidian bad, and y did u say it was short? its 5 minutes long, not music orientated? do u know wat ur talking about u try learning one instrument from taht song and then we'll see if its bad. WANKER
Posted by nathan barrow | June 25, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply to this
disgrace
somew of the bands are not good enough for the songs they are covering!
not impressed
Songs I'm looking forward to (for humour value, mostly): Lostprophets 'Davidian' (Machine Head)
Fightstar 'Breaking The Law' (Judas Priest)
The Automatic 'Epic' (Faith No More)
Funeral For A Friend 'The Boys Are Back In Town' (Thin Lizzy)
TheAudition 'Livin' On A Prayer' (Bon Jovi)
The Blackout 'My Generation' (Limp Bizkit)
Bring Me The Horizon 'Eyeless' (Slipknot)
I'm not a fan of any of these bands, but I am a fan of Machine Head and Judas Priest.
I think BMTH will churn out the same noisecore crap they always do and seeing as I don't like that era of 'knot, I wont be at all bothered if that happens.
FFAF covering Thin Lizzy, well, that should be a laugh.
Ditto with Fightstar doing Priest, but I will admit they didn't do a bad job of Metallica's Leper Messiah. So maybe this wont be too bad, either.
I know Sign do an amazing cover of Youth Gone Wild, as I saw them supporting The Wildhearts the other month and they played it.
I heard Sebastian Bach play it when he supported Guns n Roses and Sign were just as good.
As for the rest.. well we'll just have to wait until tomorrow.
My God, what a fabulous cover of a fabulous song.
Didn't know Ian had it in him to scream like that!
So impressed and can't wait to see them live in 2 weeks! =]
xxx
loving lost prophets, aiden, bullet and even bring me the horizon's covers :D
Posted by scy | June 20, 2007 4:18 PM | Reply to this
FYI:
The cover of 'Today' is fucking shocking.
Posted by Sith Happens | June 20, 2007 4:54 PM | Reply to this
CD rules
Every1 just shup yeh
amazin CD
kudos to BMTH, Sign. The Audition, Gallows, The Blackout, Aiden and FFAF for the best songs
p.s. love the blackout adding 'merthyr tydfill bridge' and 'the valleys' those guys :D
Posted by Nobre | June 20, 2007 5:23 PM | Reply to this
yeaaah i jus got the cd,i have to say i didnt like bring me the horizons version of eyeless..it didnt sound right! i liked funeral for a friends version of boys are back in town though :D
Posted by Natalie | June 20, 2007 6:43 PM | Reply to this
wooo i love fightstar's cover of breaking the law, so much so that i haven't actually got round to listening to the rest of the cd apart from 3 seconds of epic which sounded weird and the boys are back in town which was quite good.
Posted by lily | June 20, 2007 7:03 PM | Reply to this
manson, smashing pumpkins and nirvana are my 3 favorite bands so i was skeptical about the idea of having there songs ruined. But aidens version of drain you was surprisingly good and i never thought id have a good word to say about them but they did a great job on drain you the others suck though
Posted by jack | June 20, 2007 7:16 PM | Reply to this
these bands destroyed the songs
I would just like to point out that 'Beautiful People' by Marilyn Manson and covered by Soulfly does not in the beginning have the lead singer screaming, he is singing and it sounds a hell of alot better than Soulflys cover. I agree in individuality in a cover, but that is mutilating the song! Also BMTH in their cover of Slipknots 'Eyeless' should not start with a drum 'n' bass solo as it completely changed the look of the song. Along with that they filled up parts of the song with it! Yes, individuality, but do not destroy the song with some drum 'n' bass turd that is easily done on a computer, people look to a band for talent, not computer skills! Those two badns have lost alot of respect from me!
On another note I enjoyed reading the Manson Vs. MCR debate and the F.O.B interview, keep up the good work,
Richard
Posted by richard hodge | June 20, 2007 9:27 PM | Reply to this
these bands destroyed the songs
what the hell are you on about... that drum & bass was in the original song, they didn't even change it at all.
Posted by rik | June 21, 2007 11:48 PM | Reply to this
Lol...
you might wanna know something about the original before you post in future... if you heard the original at least ONCE you'd know it was the same as the original as slipknot have a DJ (DJ Starscream)
Posted by Michael Carty | June 24, 2007 12:25 AM | Reply to this
these bands destroyed the songs
yeh the drum and bass was in the original get ur facts straight before u say bands r bad. y do u have to compare it the original anyways covers are done for a bit of difference otherwise wats the point bmth did a great job :D
Posted by nathan barrow | June 25, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply to this
How the fuck is Madina Lake going to cover a Smashing Pumpkins song?? They can bearly play their instruments. This is a shame.
Posted by Alex | June 21, 2007 4:47 AM | Reply to this
Actually really liked the Lostprophets version of Davidian and Soulfly did the beautiful people better than Mr Warner ever could. Great stuff!!!!
i can honestly say that lostprophets did a great job, and so did bullet and fightstar.
oh ye....
OMFG
BMTH should be shot for doing eyeless i mean really if your going to cover any slipknot song make sure you no what your singin and not screechin like 3 year old girl down the mic. I hope joey jordison kicks there ass
Posted by WarDy | June 21, 2007 11:13 AM | Reply to this
Blood great apart from BMTH bah poor cover
Posted by Andy | June 21, 2007 11:14 AM | Reply to this
seriously. the blackout did a amazing job with 'my generation' :]
it's nice to see a band trying to make it their own rather than trying to sound just like the original!
lostprophets did an awesome job too!
theaudition on the other hand need to be shot for mudering such a classic. booo, hiss.
Lostprophets and The Blackout both did an awesome job of their songs!
the others were all good except the audition absolutly killed living on a prayer! they should have never picked such a well-known and loved song!!
Posted by Maree | June 21, 2007 12:27 PM | Reply to this
Aiden Must DIE
Well Mr Wil Fancis, Drain You was also one of my favourite Nirvana songs... until you killed raped and emptied your boals ALL over it.
I never had any faith in Aiden, they are un-original, un-cool and un-talented. They sound like a 12 year old band who have only just learnt to play their instruments. Their attempt to cover such a beautifully crafted and written song is possiblly one of the worst attempts ever. So stick to writting your own stupid emo songs with Myspace-like lyrics that are so stale, it rivals a diamonds hardness.
One a more positve note, I was very impressed with Lostprophets and BMTH's covers of Davidon and Eyesless. These people know how to work it.
Plus high fives to Charlie Simpson and Fightstar for a brilliant cover.
Much love
Posted by Joseph Higgins | June 21, 2007 3:54 PM | Reply to this
Aiden Must DIE
wow your fucking stupid. that's all.
Posted by aiden | June 21, 2007 5:44 PM | Reply to this
Aiden Must DIE
it is all true
Posted by danny mayhem | June 21, 2007 6:10 PM | Reply to this
The Audition
Their version was shocking,
not in a good way.
The lead singer said it was a hard song to sing.. so why sing it and ruin it?
I personally really liked "today" by Madina Lake & "Eyeless" you can't compare to Slipknot.. BMTH was just ridiculous.
Posted by LoveStruck | June 21, 2007 5:32 PM | Reply to this
FUCKIN A
I just wanna say, it takes a lot of guts to record a cover song, I give credit to all the bands who did. To all those who are talking shit saying how this band is stupid and this band should die, alls I have to say is this, can you do better?
They are making the money and you aren't, so If you can't do either, than shut the fuck up!
Cheers
Posted by Johnny Uprising | June 21, 2007 5:58 PM | Reply to this
overall good
wow i usally don't like the lostprophet but i like the cover job. i like nirvana and whata fucking shit job aiden did to it my fav song. on the QOTSA cover the bass was not right. FFAF did a better job then last ime but i did not like what they did.
why did someone cover liv'on a prayer its a shit song to start off with
Posted by danny mayhem | June 21, 2007 6:04 PM | Reply to this
QOTSA
QOTSA haven't covered Drain You :D
Posted by Nathan | June 25, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply to this
Cover?
I wouldn't cover a mortuary floor with this crap. Smash Hits do rock?
Posted by Namothy | June 21, 2007 8:32 PM | Reply to this
OMFG that cover of Davidan by Lostprophets is the fucking shit! If I hadn't known it was the Prophets covering Machine Head there I'de never have guessed it was them upon hearing it! Sign's Skid Row cover is damn good too, but it could've been better without the Blackout cover of Limp Bizkit cos both of them are shit. Fightstar's Breaking The Law cover by Judas Priest is surprisingly good though! :D
Posted by Joel | June 21, 2007 9:10 PM | Reply to this
wat a choice of songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Ronan | June 21, 2007 9:54 PM | Reply to this
wat a choice of songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Ronan | June 21, 2007 9:54 PM | Reply to this
wat a choice of songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Ronan | June 21, 2007 9:54 PM | Reply to this
liking the sound of this cd
i think this cd'll be great but i agre with jayjay.
there should be a bit of mcr on here. they shudda put their cover of the misfits song, 'Astro zombies' thats on the soundtrack to Tony Hawks American Wasteland. thats a really good song. hey, if anyone wants to talk to me or owt, my myspace is
www.myspace.com/mttthe_enema_stikres_back
=]
Posted by ber | June 22, 2007 9:54 AM | Reply to this
higher voltage cd
I thought they all ROCKED apart from Gallows i thought the f***ing ruined nervos brackdown by black flag
glallows suck
Posted by Ashley | June 22, 2007 12:52 PM | Reply to this
higher voltage
is it just me that thinks lostprophets new sound on the album is amazing!!!!!
i am i the only person who thought this cover album sucked, i mean theres a few highlights but nothing biggy, a waste of £2.10.
Posted by lucy | June 23, 2007 8:21 PM | Reply to this
Err
Yeah, it really did suck. The cover for Marilyn Manson was terrible, the only one I listened to fully was Aidens cover on Drain You by Nirvana...
Posted by Amy | June 23, 2007 8:34 PM | Reply to this
Err
Yeah, it really did suck. The cover for Marilyn Manson was terrible, the only one I listened to fully was Aidens cover on Drain You by Nirvana...
Posted by Amy | June 23, 2007 8:35 PM | Reply to this
higher voltage
so dissapointed with lostprophets cover
personally i thought they sucked
=[
as did gallows but gallows always suck
however aiden, ycni:m, ffaf, madina lake, theAudition and the blackout were fantastic
Posted by rachaely | June 23, 2007 8:57 PM | Reply to this
UMMM i didnt get the right cd instead the songs playing on my are all from stone sours "Come What(ever)May":S confused
Posted by StAcEsTaRbUcK | June 23, 2007 9:08 PM | Reply to this
ooo found the problem now its just my comps f***cked up playing wrong albums!!!!
Posted by StAcEsTaRbUcK | June 23, 2007 9:16 PM | Reply to this
I rather like Davidian, very interesting cover by fightstar, rather kick arse i'd say, BFMV did a superb job like they did with Welcome home on the Remastered CD. I like the MM cover too
Dubious about Bring me the Hair Straightners, they did a decent job of the instruments here, but i'm totally undecided on their vocals, some sounds like complete utter noise, some is actually good. Their normal music sucks arse though.
The rest i really didnt like the original that much anyway so im not gonna comment as it would be biased as hell.
Posted by Michael Carty | June 24, 2007 12:29 AM | Reply to this
cd!!!
i absolutely (L) theauditions "living on a prayer"
Danny has a gorgeous voice!!
(L) BMTH "eyeless"
great cd though!!!
Posted by XxXPorscherXxX | June 24, 2007 7:25 AM | Reply to this
cd!!!
i absolutely (L) theauditions "living on a prayer"
Danny has a gorgeous voice!!
(L) BMTH "eyeless"
great cd though!!!
(L) the blackout!!
Posted by XxXPorscherXxX | June 24, 2007 7:25 AM | Reply to this
cd!!!
i absolutely (L) theauditions "living on a prayer"
Danny has a gorgeous voice!!
(L) BMTH "eyeless"
great cd though!!!
(L) the blackout!!
Well Mate this is ow it fuk!n goes aye....The Cd Is Fuk!n mint Aye n i Absolute Luv it Aye!!
My Faves are TheAudition, Bring Me The Horizon, Funeral for a Friend, and Aiden...
Keep up the Good Work aye!!!!!!
Luvness....
xx:)xx
<3333
Posted by VixI 'n' JadiE | June 27, 2007 11:16 AM | Reply to this
Sign
Dont people just love sign ;P
Posted by Bjoggi | June 28, 2007 12:15 AM | Reply to this
Simply Amazing!
I stay in shock when i heard the Lostprophets version of Davidian, they do an amazing job with that machine head cover, i hope they follow that hidden metal side in their next album.
Im quite impressed, who would of thought Lostprophets could salvage that career,
And An AWESOME cover of the Dead Kennedys, the gallows cover was alright but seemed a bit .. i dunno empty, not as passionate as it should have been tbh wel thats just my view
Posted by Chris | July 15, 2007 7:48 PM | Reply to this
Covers
Fuck those damn covers man! I lost most of my respect for BfmV when they covered Crazy Train, and even more when they did Sanitarium! But now Creeping death too?! Fuck, man they need to stop destroying songs.
Fuck those damn covers man! I lost most of my respect for BfmV when they covered Crazy Train, and even more when they did Sanitarium! But now Creeping death too?! Fuck, man they need to stop destroying songs.
Fifteen of rock's hottest bands have contributed cover versions of classic songs for the second instalment of Kerrang! magazine's free 'High Voltage' CDs. 
um because i can?
